Tag Archives: gender toys

Let me take a step back…I don’t think I’ve ever considered myself a feminist, not because I don’t believe in the principles of it, rather I’ve never been in a situation where I feel the inequality because I’m a female. I grew up in a female dominated household, with a strong, working mother. She was the breadwinner and I never thought anything of it. I’ve had a successful career in industries including sports which historically has been more male-dominated. I made good money and always grew in my career, so like I said, I’ve never been in a situation to feel the inequality.

I try to spread that philosophy to my little girls too. While they are likely too young to fully grasp what I tell them, my three-year-old understands girls can play football and boys can wear nail polish. No big deal. Some girls have short hair and some boys (including her Daddy) have long hair. No big deal. Girls can wear any color they want and so can boys. Pink, blue, purple, red and green…colors are fun and look good on anyone. No big deal.

Okay, back to the toys. The other day, I walk into the Disney store. First let me say….I love Disney. Adore Disney. My three-year-old has been to Disney World twice. My 15-month-old already had her first Disney adventure. My husband and I might like it more than the kids. But I digress.

I walk into the store and the first thing I see is a sign for “Boys Toys.” Across the aisle on the other side, a sign for “Girls Toys.”

My first thought was “WTF is this about?”

It’s even broken down that way on their website, for girls and for boys. The boys toys included things from Cars, Toy Story and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The girls toys included princesses, princesses and more princesses. Disney has come so far, especially with their new Doc McStuffins show which is awesome to have a girl doctor role model for kids. And then this.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love pink and princesses as much as the next girl. But I also know my daughter likes all sorts of toys. She loves trucks, airplanes, pirates and princesses.

For some reason, the whole “pink” for girls and “blue” for boys gender thing for clothes has never annoyed me. Probably because I find awesome clothes for my girls in all colors. And if something is cute in the boys section, I’ll buy it for them (sort of the same fashion principles I apply for myself). But seeing the boys and girls toys just pissed me off.